Page 44

My phone vibrates. I nearly drop it. The screen lights up. One bar of service. One incoming call. A number I haven't seen in 15 years.

Rhett Cambridge. I’m not sure why Rhett Cambridge is the person I need. I only know that when everything else in my life stopped making sense, he was the one person who had been there before the missing pieces began.

I don't know how he has my number or why he is calling or what happens if I answer. But I know one thing. Whatever this is…

Whatever found Morrow…

Whatever has been hiding the truth from me…

I can't fight it alone.

I accept the call.

"Hello?"

For several seconds, there is only silence. Then his voice. Older. Deeper. Exactly as I remember.

"Carys."

My eyes close. Because hearing his voice hurts more than I expected.

"Rhett."

A pause. Then:

"I think we need to talk."

I look at the words carved into my attic door.

YOU REMEMBER NOW.

And I realize something. He isn't the only one who needs answers.

"Yes," I whisper.

"We do."

6

RHETT

OCTOBER 20 ~ 11 DAYS UNTIL HALLOWEEN

Iknow something is wrong before Carys says a word.

Not because of the phone call. Not because of the strange interference that cut through the line before she finally answered. Because the moment I heard her voice, my entire body reacted.

15 years disappeared.

Not memories. Not regret. Not anger. All of it. One word.

My name. The way she said it. Like she had been carrying it somewhere she never wanted to visit again.

I grip the steering wheel tighter as I turn onto Hollow Lane. The road is quieter than the rest of Sleepy Hollow.

Older. The trees grow closer together here, their branches twisting overhead like they are trying to block out the sky.

The farther I drive, the more unsettled I become. Not because of the investigation. Because of her. Carys Wren. The person I spent 15 years convincing myself belonged to a different life. A life before everything changed. A life before I learned that sometimes the people you trust most are the ones who can hurt you the deepest.